Case Number 22953: Small Claims Court

NEEDLE

The Charge

Ten Suspects. Six Clues. One Killer.

The Case

Revenge is a really weird concept in cinema. About half the time, we're told
to sympathize with those seeking revenge because they have a righteous cause.
The other half we're told to sympathize with some guy who's the object of
revenge, and so revenge is bad. Needle, the generically titled Australian
production, fits into the latter category. It rocks a kind of
Hellraiser-meets-Ten Little Indians mood that surpasses many of
its genre peers, though never quite rises above mediocrity.

Marcus (Travis Fimmel, The Beast) is a college student in Australia.
Although his father died two years ago, he's just now receiving the contents of
one of his storage units. Inside was Le Vaudo Mort, a mysterious machine that
just happens to be delivered to Marcus as his older brother comes back into town
(a brother, not coincidently, who Marcus blames for their father's death). After
showing a number of his friends the box after a party, a drunken Marcus leaves
the machine under his bed. The next morning it's gone. Then, Marcus' friends
start dying, and it doesn't take long to figure out that the box has something
to do with it.

Needle has a few things going for it. First among them is its
implementation of the basic Ten Little Indians model from Agatha
Christie. We're pretty sure from the beginning that the killer is somebody we're
introduced to in the film's first few minutes. Is it Marcus' mysterious brother
who just happened to come back into town? Is it the professor Marcus just
pranked in front of the whole class with an embarrassing picture? Everybody is a
suspect, but because people die at a fairly steady clip there's no chance for
cheesy red herrings or shock tactics. Second among the film's strengths is the
inclusion of the mysterious machine. It's kinda creepy looking, and in case it
wasn't obvious Le Vaudo Mort translates to The Voodoo Death. That's how the box
operates, turning a wax dummy into a voodoo doll which can then be tortured and
killed along with its double. There's no serious attempt to provide a backstory
to the machine (aside from a few spurious references to Grand Guignol), and in
an era of over-explaining in films, the omission feels fresh. Finally, the box
allows one of the film's other strengths to emerge: it's got pretty good gore.
The whole voodoo doll conceit allows for some pretty horrific torture and the
special effects used to achieve those moments look impressive.

However, the film is not without its drawbacks as well. The first starts
with the title. Needle is so aggressively generic, so tangentially
related to the film's premise, that it feels wrong on so many levels. However,
it is appropriate in one way, and that is in its genericism, which the film also
suffers from. Needle is a well-done movie, but it does nothing to move
the formula of the murder mystery or horror film into new territory. The acting
is fine but never distinguished. The final twist, when we learn who the killer
is, feels a little bit arbitrary. It's not a total deus ex machine, but it does
feel a little sudden. These are all fairly minor quibbles, but taken together
they leave me with the feeling that Needle is a decent film, but one that
could have been better.

The DVD, however, is pretty good. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer
is generally clean and bright, with appropriate black levels during the numerous
night time sequences. Detail is pretty strong, and artifacts are not a problem.
The Dolby 5.1 surround track keeps dialogue clean and clear in the center
channel (despite the Aussie accents), and there's some good directionality
during some of the more intense moments. Subtitles are included for those who
have trouble with accents from Down Under. The main extra is a short making-of
featurette, and the film's trailer is also included.

As long as you keep your expectations in check, Needle is a decent
little Aussie horror/mystery flick. The voodoo angle is well-played, and the
mystery kept free enough of cheesy red herrings to make the flick watchable.
It's probably worth a rental for genre fans or those looking to expand their
horizons with a few faces who may be recognizable.

The Verdict

Not guilty, though the court warns viewers to keep their expectations low to
avoid disappointment.